Just a reminder that the Aggies take on the Owls tonight at 6 at the Mitchell Tennis Center. Big match for the Aggies, as many believe if we take care of business tonight we will host the first two rounds of the NCAA's. Nothing is ever certain, but a win would probably ensure that we would end the season ranked in the top 16, and maybe as high as 10 depending on the Texas match and the Big XII tournament. Its now down to crunch time, and a good home crowd would really help.

Looking forward to a well played match tonight.

Lost the doubles point. This is going to be a tough match.

Going to the wire.

Looks like Rice will take it 4-3 unless our number 6 can win his next two sets. Tough spot for someone only playing his second singles match for us.

Took the seconds set. Still have a chance.

Rice takes it 4-3. Bad loss.

well another match where we just handed the opponent the doubles point. Up 6-2 on court three, and serving. Can't get it done for whatever reason. We knew singles was going to be tough, and frankly Conor, Austin and Wil played about as well as they can on lines one, two and three. All straight set victories against good opponents. Griggy and Marcus not really commpetitive on four and five and Austin Klores lost a tiebreaker in set one, won set two, and lost badly in set three. Can't say Colin would have made a big difference, but I'm pretty sure he and Gribby would have played better in two doubles. Tough loss, especially given the way our top guys played. Oh well, the Horns come in Thursday and we need to keep our heads up. You just can't keep giving away the doubles point and expect to keep pulling it out. very dissapointing.

[This message has been edited by Raven (edited 4/13/2009 10:48p).]

I think Colin wins at 6. Just how the chips fall sometimes. Why do we sit Colin for this match, when this match hurts our ranking more if we lose? If we sit Colin for Texas, they are only a spot behind us, while Rice is at 40. We may have just lost our spot to host regionals.

They had to sit Colin due to the number of matches he has played, just like they had to sit Marcus on Friday. It's a weird rule, but it's the same for everybody. We're not elite yet, but we're close. We just have to get tougher. Tennis is all about getting your foot on your opponents throat and then stomping on it. Klores played a great match on the 6 line to take it to 3 sets, but couldn't finish. We're sooooooo close. We just have to get tougher.

Look guys, I hate to say this because I like Denton and what he has done so far, but this loss is on him.

After the earlier discussion on the 25 match date of competition max, I asked around. It is pretty unusual for someone to reach the date of comp. max before the team, but it does happen. Usually its a top player who has played Davis Cup for his country or played ITF tournaments during the year. That kind of thing you can't help - it's part of having world-class players and you plan for it by scheduling a match or two in which you don't need the player(s) and sit them out.

What is really unusual about THIS situation is that it was caused by the coaching staff, who played Colin in all of the fall tournaments and then didn't have the foresight to sit him in early-season matches in anticipation of needing him here at the end. We didn't have him against Rice basically because the coaches played him in a bunch of fall tournaments (basically exhibitions) and then didn't plan ahead.

We'll never know if Colin would have made a difference or not, but he certainly couldn't have hurt. Getting to the end of the season and not having sat him in a less significant match (Radford?) is a rookie mistake that Denton should have known and planned better than to make.

I just hope that this loss doesn't eventually keep us out of the top 16 and hosting NCAAs.

[This message has been edited by Harry Dunne (edited 4/14/2009 12:30a).]

My question is, was this his exact 25th match? Or were we planning ahead for the next match and sitting him here. The way that one of the staff told me, we could have sat him against texas and played him against rice. I think they were sitting them to prepare for another match or two, hence both of them sat before texas (both meaning Marcus and Colin). IF we had a choice and he did not HAVE to sit against rice, and it could have been pushed til Texas, why not?

While I see what you're saying, bigfoot, I disagree. I think the NCAA rankings probably look more favorably upon beating a top 13 team than than they do on losing to a no. 40 team. Denton had no choice but to do what he did.

Plus, he probably REALLY wants to beat Texas. ;-)

You've gotta bring your best squad to the big matches whenever possible. His only mistake was to not sit these guys earlier in the year in some of these slaughterings that we put on people. Radford was mentioned, or how about NC State (ranked 42). You can't chance it when it comes to the end of the season and you get a hungry, in-state team possibly trying to make a late push for an NCAA bid.

Obviously you can make the excuse that he was still expecting Frenchy to be eligible, and he didn't expect Griggy to take so long to be eligible, but I think he's gotta be better prepared for the contingency that it played out the way it did. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to get those other guys some more play against these weak opponents. They will be needed at some point.

The only thing I can say in his defense is that in some of those early season matches, when we were down the Alexs, he may have been thinking that he needed to do what he did to guarantee a win, but with our top 3 guys, against teams like Radford and N.C. State he should be ok to sit at least one of these guys who were cutting it close.

Alas, in the end, he doesn't play the matches. If our 3 doubles had held on to what looked to be a sure victory, then we wouldn't have to have this discussion.

Regardless we'll be full squad for t.u., so let's BTHO the sips!

No question he could have played against Rice and sat against Texas. That simply was not going to happen. The other option that was discussed was to sit both he and Marcus against Nebraska, but the coaches thought (and I think rightly so) that it was too big of a risk. Not sure not having Colin cost us the match, but it sure did not help. There was no way Steve was going to play Texas at less than full strength. Looking with the clarity of 20/20 hindsight, I am sure the coaches wished he had only played 4 fall dates. At the time, however, I don't think anyone envisioned that Colin was going to lock down a permanent spot at two doubles, and six singles. Austin Klores and Kayvon were seen as viable options, and Kayvon played six in many early matches. As the year progressed, it became clear that Colin had earned the court time, and he has really helped us both in dubs and at six. We also believed we were going to have Klegu available, which would have radically altered our lineup. That all said, if we don't completely lay an egg at three doubles we win this match. Oh well, on to Texas.

[This message has been edited by Raven (edited 4/14/2009 7:29a).]

I'd put this loss more on Lunt/Griggy. It doesn't look like they showed up to play. Not even competitive in singles.

Marcus was a little bit, Griggy looked horrible the second set. It seriously wasnt 15 minutes into the set he was down 4-0. Ugly tennis. Didnt look like he really fought at all, either.

All good points.

I still think that if there is ANY question about whether a guy is going to contribute, then you don't risk having to sit him by playing meaningless fall tournaments. If you're going to play anyone in all of the tournaments let it be the very bottom of the lineup walk-on types that aren't going to see much action in the spring.

I understand all of the reasoning behind how we got to this point, but no matter how you spin it, the bottom line is that this was a major brain cramp by the coaching staff. They get paid big bucks to contingency plan for situations like this. Let's hope the guys can pick the coaches up by pulling out a huge win against t.u.

marcus was in an uphill battle from the beginning. isamu should be playing 3 or 4 for rice, not 5, but he's been playing there most of the year so it wasn't a surprise. just a tough singles match-up for marcus.

this comes down to #3 doubles not closing it out. everyone knew a&m was gonna win #1 dubs and 1-3 singles easily. with klores and griggy playing their first match together in a long time, the pressure shifts to #3. they had a big lead and couldn't close it out. unfortunate, but there's no time to dwell on it.

the texas match is now the biggest match of the year, just like it should be.

[This message has been edited by camden creek (edited 4/14/2009 10:07a).]

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If you're going to play anyone in all of the tournaments let it be the very bottom of the lineup walk-on types that aren't going to see much action in the spring.

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yeah, exactly, someone like colin hoover.

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I think the NCAA rankings probably look more favorably upon beating a top 13 team than than they do on losing to a no. 40 team. Denton had no choice but to do what he did.

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I disagree. I would think that the goal at this point would be to stay in the top 16 and host a NCAA regional. Being pretty solidly in the top 16, all you have to do is beat the teams behind you.

The ranking are done 100% by computer, and the quality of both the win and the loss is considered. If we had an "AP" poll, Pollsters might give more credit for the big win and not subtract for the big loss, but the computer is unbiased. At this point the rankings are pretty true - Rice is a legit 40 and t.u. is a legit 13. Computer-wise, when you lose to a 40 and you beat a 13, you have only "proved" to the computer that your ranking ought to be somewhere in between.

Conversely if you're at #12 and lose to 13 and beat 40, you're probably only going to drop to 13 or 14. At the same time if you beat them both, you're no likely to climb that much at this point in the season either. So really the smart move IMO would have been to "lay up".

The way that the NCAA tournament shapes out, you're really just playing for seeding and not necessarily for ranking. Being #16 is really no worse than being #8 because you still get to host a regional...and the overall ranking at that point (once you're hosting) is not all that relevant because regionals are distributed by geography rather than by ranking...which means that if we finish out of the top 16 we're going to go to a regional at Baylor or t.u. as a #2 regional seed as opposed to basketball, where we might travel to...wherever, because finishing at #18 we would be a 4 or 5 bracket seed. If we end up hosting (assuming Baylor and t.u. end up top-16 as well), then we'll probably get Tulsa, LSU, or OSU to come in as a #2 seed, giving us a great chance to go to the sweet 16. That was basically the Tim Cass forumula for NCAA tournament success - avoiding Baylor in the regionals. Obviously you'd like to not have to be scared of them but we're not at that point yet.

Just my opinion.

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yeah, exactly, someone like colin hoover.

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Yeah, in a perfect world with 8 scholarship players eligible ahead of him.

At some point the coaches realized that Colin was going to be a major contributor and I think we all agree that this point was much earlier than last week.

We could argue all day. The coaches are your buddies and you are sticking up for them - I get and respect that. I am a big fan and obviously I want the most success for our team possible but I'm calling it like I see it and I see a fumble by the coaches. It's just an opinion and I don't expect to change your mind.

[This message has been edited by Harry Dunne (edited 4/14/2009 10:30a).]

A win against Texas ends the discussion.
Just curious, does anyone know the young Russian's
w-l record? I might have missed something, but he
needs to get a win that can give him a lift.
He must be better than we're seeing given how highly touted he is.

you aren't hurting my feelings, i don't take stuff on here seriously. if i did, i'd be making a lot more comments than i already do. and it has nothing to do with me sticking up for my "buddies." i just speak the truth. so feel free to call it like you see it. no big deal.

I dont know that a win against Texas seals it, especially after last nights loss to #40 Rice. I really hope that a win puts us in position to host a regional, but I dont know that its a lock. I am just not certain how much that loss last night hurts us.


As for saying that a win over a team one spot ahead of us helps us more than a loss against Rice hurts is, this is wrong. If you asked any of the coaches before we had our stretch of the matches against USC, Ohio State, and Illinois, they all knew that we had nothing to lose, because we SHOULD lose to a team ranked above us. Therefore, us winning helped us more and hurt them more.

Not sure if that made sense...bottom line, get out to the mitch and cheer on the Ags against tu Thursday

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i don't take stuff on here seriously

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Not really sure about Griggies w-l record. Expect he is about 50 percent. He has had some big wins that come to mind...Washington, USC, Baylor. He also has had some matches he won where he played poorly and then came back. He was bad last night, thats for sure. Don't know much about the match up, except that he has played that guy before in JRs and won. In any event, he needs to become more consistent. Great hands, comes to the net well. Has nearly every shot in his arsenal, just sometimes he wants to play a finesse shot, when it is not really necessary. (this is an opinion from a non tennis guy....me). I still can't get over losing at three doubles last night...absolutely no excuse for that. Also as I said earlier, Colin, Austin and Wil at lines 1-3 were spectacular....as good as I have ever seen them at one time. Hopefully it carries over to Thursday night. BTW I like the commentary that others are giving. We all want the team to be successful, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Because I have the luxury of living virtually on top of A&M, and spending time with the players and coaches, I try mainly to be informative. Lets go get Texas.

http://collegetennisonline.com

This is a great page - you can find team records, individual records, past rankings, etc.

They have his record at 7-8
http://collegetennisonline.com/TexasA-MUniversity-M-Tennis/Player.aspx?plId=85284

and here is the breakdown match by match
http://collegetennisonline.com/TexasA-MUniversity-M-Tennis/Player.aspx?plId=85284

I also like http://tennisrecruiting.net/

Someone had mentioned another good recruiting page. Camden, I think. What is it?

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I disagree. I would think that the goal at this point would be to stay in the top 16 and host a NCAA regional. Being pretty solidly in the top 16, all you have to do is beat the teams behind you.

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Throw all that crap out the window. Could you imagine the uproar if Denton didn't bring his best lineup against Texas?
Tought to say he should have sat these guys back in January. That was still pretty early to think they would play every match (well maybe Lunt should have been sat).

Just think how strong this lineup would be if Klegou had gotten cleared.

next year is going to be sick, by the way. If we get the one big recruit we are targeting, we will be a top 5 team next year.

Bigfoot: I agree that things are shaping up well for next year. We are recruiting at the very highest level, and so it is a war to get the guys we are after. If the one that you are talking about breaks our way, watch out. Battling No. 1 Virginia for his services, and they are going all out. Should know shortly. I am not ready to throw in the towel on this year. We have shown we can play with the best in the country and if we can get hot at the right time, who knows. Got to quit giving away the doubles point, however.

The one I am talking about was looking at us and Georgia, according to Bob, Steve, and Kevin. Should know soon, as well.

dropped one spot from 12 to 13. texas still one spot behind us at 14. this does not, however, take into account the result of last night's match.

Well, let's sign the one talking to UVA and the one talking to UGA and get the young Frenchman in the lineup and kick some tail next year.